


not quite 20/20 vision

by reptilianraven



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Glasses, Humor, M/M, or the one where zagreus gets glasses in canon, plotless glasses fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28527234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reptilianraven/pseuds/reptilianraven
Summary: “Nobody’s going blind and it's definitely not a curse. Zagreus, it sounds like you might’ve just inherited something from my father’s side of the family. I think you’ve got astigmatism.”Zagreus blinks. “I’ve got what?”“Bad eyesight, dear,” Mother says. “You need glasses.”Hypnos, damn him, bursts into laughter.-If there is any trace of mortality in Zagreus, he is better off for it. Except for the eyesight problem. That part is a little terrible.
Relationships: Megaera/Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 206





	not quite 20/20 vision

**Author's Note:**

> glasses didnt exist in ancient greece but so did fuckin guns so like yknow. no beta we die like zagreus

It comes in stages, not all at once.

First come the headaches. Sure, Zagreus knows what a regular head injury feels like. He’s done enough escape runs to have been thrown into a nearby wall once or a thousand times, bashing his skull against the surface. However, headaches are different, if not almost as agonizing. Concussions he can deal with, because he knows where they come from, but headaches have started to strike Zagreus with no rhyme or reason.

Then his vision began failing him. Any time he did an escape run with Coronacht of Exagryph, he’s found that his aim has suffered greatly. Instead of being a dead on like how Achilles had taught him, when he focuses on an enemy, his sight goes blurry and his shots fire just off enough to bother Zagreus immensely. 

And above all that, his eyes downright ache all the time now. 

It’s _maddening._

“Do you think I got magma in my eyes at some point?” Zagreus says.

“Hmmmm, no, that doesn’t seem right,” Hypnos says, twirling his quill. “If you got magma in your eyes I’m pretty sure I would have gotten your cause of death here on my list as ‘magma in eyes’ and would have made a great joke about it that you wouldn’t ever forget!”

“Then that’s not it,” Zagreus says, leaning against the chaise Hypnos is floating over. “It can’t be an ailment, can it?”

“Oh _definitely_ not,” Hypnos laughs. “Gods don’t get ailments. Which means! It’s probably a curse!”

“A curse?” Zagreus says, mildly alarmed.

“Hypnos, are you bullying my good son over here,” Mother says teasingly as she walks to where they’re speaking. 

“Wouldn’t dare to, Queen Persephone,” Hypnos smiles. “But Zag here has been experiencing some pretty funky stuff and that only happens when somebody is cursed!”

“Funky stuff…” Mother echoes ludicrously. She turns to Zagreus, concerned. “Are you in pain?”

“No, definitely not,” Zagreus says. Then, he winces. “Well, I have a headache right now. I seem to be getting those a lot lately. My vision isn’t as good as it was before. And my eyes hurt all the time.”

“What if you’re going _blind_ ,” Hypnos gasps.

“Shush, you,” Mother says chidingly. “Nobody’s going blind and it’s definitely not a curse. Zagreus, it sounds like you might’ve just inherited something from my father’s side of the family. I think you’ve got astigmatism.”

Zagreus blinks. “I’ve got what?”

“Bad eyesight, dear,” Mother says. “You need glasses.”

Hypnos, damn him, bursts into laughter.

-

‘Daedalus Lenses’, they’re officially called, but that’s a bit of a mouthful, so everybody just calls them glasses. Everybody but Zagreus, of course, who had no idea the things even existed. 

“What is the point of this examination?” Zagreus asks. 

The House Physician, a tall and lanky shade, says nothing and simply continues to set up what seems to be a piece of parchment with different sized letters on the wall of Zagreus’ room. Thanatos and Megaera however, deign Zagreus with a reply.

“It’s to test how good your vision is,” Than says from where he’s seated on Zagreus’ bed, a serious expression on his face. 

“Or how bad,” Meg says from beside him.

“Not that I don’t love the company but—” Zagreus looks at them, blurry as his vision may be. “—Why are you two here again?”

“Moral support,” Than and Meg say together.

The House Physician sits Zagreus down on his recliner but pushes is back so that the parchment is quite a ways away. The shade then procures a stick seemingly from nowhere and begins pointing at certain letters starting from the largest, gesturing at Zagreus to read them aloud.

By the time Zagreus is reading the smallest row of letters, he hears Megaera softly say “Oh gods.”

“So how’s my eyesight, Physician?” Zagreus asks when it’s all over.

The House Physician merely shakes his head sorrowfully.

“That doesn’t seem good,” Zagreus says. 

“It isn’t,” Than tells him, laying a hand on Zagreus’ shoulder. “It really isn’t.”

-

The glasses are finished a dayornight later. Zagreus opens the box and takes out the glasses curiously. He places them on, wiggles his nose a bit and blinks. He exits his room and finds Nyx at her station. 

“So you’re telling me,” Zagreus says, looking at his now clearer surroundings. “That the whole world isn’t naturally blurry all the time.”

“I’m afraid not, my child,” Nyx says serenely. 

Just how many lies has Zagreus been living?

-

The glasses are wonderful, in terms of the purpose. They correct Zagreus’ vision into something crisp and wonderful and headache-less, and he walks into the courtyard with a spring in his step as he picks out a weapon from the Infernal Arms.

That spring though slowly abates as he goes through his escape run because Zagreus realizes one key flaw in the device’s design.

They’re not exactly made for fighting.

The glasses don’t survive Tartarus. They _never_ survive Tartarus. They get knocked off his face by some enemy or another and Zagreus, in the heat of battle, either steps on them with his own flaming feet or they get destroyed by spike pits or the barrel bombs. The House Physician is never happy every time Zagreus comes by their station and asks for another pair, and Zagreus can’t fault them what with how he’s going through these things faster than Death Defiances. 

He’s having a drink with Achilles in the lounge when the House Physician walks in and squints their spectral face at Zagreus unkindly.

“Guh,” Zagreus slumps over the table. “It’s not like I _mean_ to break them.”

“Whatever do you mean, lad?” Achilles asks.

“It’s the glasses, sir. I need to wear them, and they truly help, but they keep inevitably falling off of my face and get destroyed. They’re just not made for battle.”

“Hm,” Achilles says. “I never encountered a soldier who needed glasses, as they were usually for the elderly—”

Zagreus winces. 

“—But perhaps is there a way the House Physician could fashion them so that they don’t fall off? A band that goes all the way around your head, perhaps?”

“Huh,” Zagreus straightens. “That actually seems like a good idea. I’ll bring it up to them. Thank you, sir.” 

-

The House Physician fashions a pair of glasses just like how Achilles had described, with a band that goes all the way around the head, securing the thing to Zagreus’ head no matter how he moves. The lenses are different now too, instead of just pieces of glass held together by metal, they cover both of Zagreus’ eyes completely in little compartments. Athletic Glasses, the House Physician had named this new invention, and Zagreus slips them on confidently as he jumps from the window of the courtyard. 

They’re a dream come true. Zagreus has both the power of good eyesight on his side as well as the safety of knowing these lenses that are on his face are going to be staying there. He dashes his way through Tartarus with a spring in his step, confident to face whichever Fury is guarding the gates and he goes into their chamber and---

“BAHAHAHHAHAHAAAAAA,” Alecto erupts into raucous laughter the moment Zagreus walks in. “Redblood, what in gods _name_ is that on your face.”

Zagreus frowns, his face feeling warm. “They’re my glasses. What of it?”

“What of it?” Alecto actually bends down and slaps her knee. “It’s the dorkiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”

“Alright, now you’re just being mean,” Zagreus readies Stygius. “Any more and you might just hurt my feelings.”

“Oh, your feelings getting hurt aren’t what you should be worried about,” Alecto wheezes one last time before she readies her whip. “Show me what you’ve got, Goggles!”

Zagreus bests her, but her words do stay with him throughout the entire run.

-

“You two would tell me the truth, right?” Zagreus says. It’s a rare quiet moment, for all three of them. Zagreus, Thanatos, and Megaera sit under a tree in Mother’s garden, enjoying each other’s company. He looks at Thanatos and Megaera with his clear vision, with his insecure gaze that he knows is quite foolish. 

“Of course,” Than says.

“We’d never lie to you,” Meg adds. 

“Do you think I look—” Zagreus falters a bit. “—funny. With the glasses, I mean.”

Thanatos and Megaera glance at each other. Thanatos then leans his head against Zagreus’ shoulder while Megaera gently takes Zagreus’ hand. 

“I don’t think you look funny, Zagreus,” Than tells him. “They suit you as much as they help you.”

“It pains me to say this, but I actually think you look rather dashing with them on,” Meg says with a soft laugh.

“So I don’t look like a dork?”

“You just look like you,” Than says softly, pressing a kiss to Zagreus’ cheek.

“And you’re all we ever need,” Meg squeezes Zagreus’ hand. “So don’t overthink the glasses thing too much, got it?”

“Got it,” Zagreus says.

He leans back against the tree and lets his eyes fall shut. He doesn’t need to see right now. He just needs to be here with them.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this entire thing without my glasses because i couldnt fuckin find them. also dont be alecto, be nice to glasses wearers.
> 
> im [actualbird](http://actualbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr!!!


End file.
